Strong quake hits northeast Japan, tsunami warning issued

TOKYO (Reuters) - A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 hit off the coast of northeastern Japan on Wednesday, the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) said, but there were so far no reports of damage from the quake.

A tsunami advisory of up to 50 cm (about 20 inches) was issued for northeastern Japan after the quake hit around 11:45 a.m. (9:45 p.m. ET), JMA said.

"First I felt a jolt that pushed from underneath, then a big sideways tremor that lasted for about 20 seconds," Yoshiyuki Sato, an official at Kurihara City in Miyagi prefecture, about 300 km (186 miles) northeast of Tokyo, told Reuters.

"The tremor was relatively big but things did not fall off the shelves in the city government building," he said.

The focus of the tremor was 10 km (6 miles) below the surface of the earth, off the coast of Aomori prefecture, public broadcaster NHK said.

An official at the National Police Agency said there was no information on damage from the quake so far.

Tohoku Electric Power said its Onagawa nuclear plant was operating normally after the quake. Tokyo Electric Power also said there was no impact on its power plants in the region.